Fish kill traced to untreated ammonia in wastewater

Friday

Jul 19, 2013 at 12:01 AMJul 19, 2013 at 7:11 PM

After several days of cleanup, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency says it now knows what killed more than 3,000 fish in Madison County on Sunday: The London city sewer plant dumped ammonia-tainted water into the stream. And that water, which contaminated nearly 6 miles of Oak Run, initially came from the Scotts Miracle-Gro fertilizer plant in Marysville, the EPA says.

Holly Zachariah, The Columbus Dispatch

After several days of cleanup, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency says it now knows what killed more than 3,000 fish in Madison County on Sunday: The London city sewer plant dumped ammonia-tainted water into the stream.

And that water, which contaminated nearly 6 miles of Oak Run, initially came from the Scotts Miracle-Gro fertilizer plant in Marysville, the EPA says. The discharged water apparently contained no trace of pesticide or fertilizer, however, investigators say.

Someone called the EPA’s tipline about the dead fish in the creek, which runs through London, on Sunday. Someone from the city’s plant self-reported the incident that same day, said EPA spokesman Mike Settles.

The state said London officials have been “proactive and cooperative,” in the investigation.

Aerators were placed along Oak Run in several places to increase oxygen levels and decrease the ammonia levels in the stream. The cleanup finished on Thursday.

The EPA said that Scotts trucks in what is labeled as “rinse water” to the London plant regularly. In the past, it has been pretreated at the plant and has been discharged into the stream without incident.

Why the plant discharged the water with too-high ammonia levels this time remains under investigation, officials said.

Dan Leavitt, superintendant of the London sewer plant, said he could not comment on the fish kill. He also wouldn’t say how much material Scotts trucks in regularly.

Marysville, where the Scotts plant is located, is not equipped to handle trucked-in wastewater, said John Mitchell, the city’s public service director.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which also is investigating, said the high ammonia levels killed 3,219 fish and other aquatic wildlife in the stream, including small mouth bass, darters, minnows, crayfish and sunfish.

ODNR spokesman Mark Bruce said the department will determine how much each was worth and someone will be required to pay a certain value for each fish killed as well as pay for the cost of the investigation.

Fines and penalties could also be levied.

Lance Latham, a Scotts corporate spokesman, said the company was notified of the fish kill on Tuesday. The company is cooperating with authorities, he said.

The state says the rinse water, described as a byproduct of the fertilizer process at the plant, is nutrient-rich. Typically, the treatment process at the plant filters out the ammonia and the clean water is what is discharged.

Latham said he didn’t know how much rinse water Scotts hauls to London but he said they only started trucking the material in earlier this summer. He said that London approached Scotts about taking the water.

The EPA says the London plant has the proper permits to take the water.